Description:

Soldiers and Kings: Violence, Masculinity, and Photoethnographic Practice in the Context of Human Smuggling Across Mexico

Since 2015 I have been involved in an analog photoethnographic project focused on documenting the daily lives of Honduran smugglers who profit from transporting undocumented migrants across Mexico. In this talk I discuss the relationship between transnational gangs and the human smuggling industry and outline the complicated role that photography plays as a field method and data source in this violent, hyper-masculine, and ethically challenging ethnographic context.

Co-sponsored by the Kaplan Institute for the Humanities as part of the Security Dialogues.  Also co-sponsored by Latina & Latino Studies Program